Method of penetration printing a fabric utilizing impact forces



Dec. 10, 1968 J. G. T. PATERSON ET AL 3,415,135

,METHOD OF PENETRATION PRINTING A FABRIC UTILIZING IMPACT FORCES Filed001:. 22, 1965 FIG. 2.

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United States Patent Oflice 3,415,185 Patented Dec. 10, 1 968 3,415,185METHOD OF PENETRATION PRINTING A FABRIC UTILIZING IMPACT FORCES James G.T. Paterson, Ashley P. Smith, and Bobby R.

Thrasher, Decatur, Ala., assignors to Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Mo.,a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 500,696 8Claims. (Cl. 101211) This invention relates to methods of printing andmore particularly to methods of printing fabrics and other materialswhere a deep penetration of the coloring agent into the material isdesired.

In some printing operations, a fabric to be printed is passed between apair of embossed rolls which carry a coloring agent, the rolls beingembossed in such a manner as to imprint a pattern of the coloring agenton the fabric. One of the disadvantages of this type of process is thatthe coloring agent is merely applied to the surface of the fabric, Thisis satisfactory in many cases, since in many fabrics only the surface ofthe fabric is visible. However, in the printing of carpeting material,this prior art process is not entirely suitable for the reason thatcolor uniformity is not obtained unless the dye penetrates downwardthrough the carpet pile. This result is very difiicult to obtain withembossed rollers. Further, the use of embossed rollers results indisarrangement of the carpet pile. In another type of printing, a thinscreen is utilized, this screen having open spaces through which acoloring agent is applied by a roller or blade. The primarydisadvantages of this system is that the coloring agent cannot be madeto penetrate into the fabric and that for each color a different screenand an additional printing step must be used. With this in mind, one ofthe objects of this invention is to provide a novel and improvedprinting process.

Another object of this invention is to provide a process for dyeing afabric or other material wherein the coloring agent penetrates deeplyinto the material.

A further object of this invention is to provide a printing processwhere a supply of coloring agent is subjected to an impact force todrive the coloring agent into material to be printed.

Another object of this invention is to provide a process forsimultaneously printing several colors side by side to form amulti-colored pattern.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a process for dyeinga carpet wherein the dyeing agent is driven by impact downward throughthe carpet pile onto the carpet backing.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a process which iscapable of pattern dyeing several layers of fabric simultaneously.

A further object of this invention is to provide a process for patterndyeing a pile carpet without overly compressing or disarranging thecarpet pile.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a process forprinting a fabric in a pattern having several colors side-by-side ononly one pass of the fabric through a printing zone.

Generally objects of the present invention are accomplished bypositioning a supply of coloring agent in close proximity to a fabric tobe dyed and then applying an impact force to the supply of coloringagent to drive it deep into the fabric.

In greater detail, a coloring agent is held by capillary attraction in aporous material which is placed in contact with the fabric or otherporous material to be dyed. An impact force applied to the back side ofthe porous material drives the coloring agent deep into the fabric to bedyed. The fabric is then steamed and dried in a conventional manner. Theporous material is made up of a plurality of small three-dimensionalcells, each of which holds a small supply of the coloring agent. Thecells are separated by flexible, impervious partitions, so that thecoloring agent cannot move laterally under the impact force but isdriven out of the cell and into the fabric.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent whenthe following detailed description is read in conjunction with theappended drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a vertical cross sectional viewshowing in general one type of apparatus which can be used to carry outthe process of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the dye-carrying portionof the screen used in the process of the present invention;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the face of a complete printing screenused in the present process;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view showing the arrangement of anvils which are usedto apply impact forces to the back of the screen, and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged cross sectional view of a portion of carpetingmaterial showing the results obtained by the process of the presentinvention.

Referring now in detail to the drawings there is shown in FIGURE 1 acarpet 11 having a backing 12 and a tufted pile 13 being supported onand advanced by an intermittently moved belt or table 14. A screen 17rests on and is carried by or advanced with the moving carpet 11. Thescreen 17 is made of a porous material such as hard wool felt which iscapable of receiving and holding by capillary attraction a supply of acoloring agent. This screen is disclosed and claimed in co-pendingapplication Ser. No. 502,007, filed Oct. 22, 1965, in the names of JamesG. T. Paterson, Ashley P. Smith and James K. Sams of Printing Screen.

An anvil 18 loosely mounted for vertical movement in a plate 20 ispositioned above the screen 17. Each time the carpet 11 stops in itsintermittent movement the plate 20 is lowered to move the anvil 18 intocontact with the screen 17 and then a hammer 19 applies a sharp impactblow to the anvil 18. The impact blow of the hammer 19 is transmittedthrough the anvil 18 to the screen 17. The impact force literally shootsthe coloring agent from the screen 17 downwardly into the carpet 11.

The impact force applied to the screen 17 will drive the coloring agentthrough several layers of thinner fabric, if it is desired to printfabrics. The pattern on the bottom layer of fabric is substantially asclear and distinct as the pattern formed on the top layer of fabric.

The screen 17 is made up of a dye-impervious backing layer 21 to whichis attached a plurality of porous, threedimensional cells 22. Thebacking layer 21 may be made of a rubber-like elastomeric material. Thecells 22 are isolated from each other by dye-impervious partitions 23,these partitions being provided for preventing lateral movement of aliquid coloring agent from one cell to another.

It will be noted that the thickness of the cells 22 is substantialcompared to the conventional printing screen where the coloring agent ismerely applied through open spaces in the screen. The cells may be ofany shape 1n cross section. However, it is easier to make the screen ifa square or rectangular cross section is used. A preferred cell is x /s"in cross section. These dimensions may be varied but if a square crosssection is used the cross sectional dimensions should, for best results,be kept under about /2". The reason for this is that lateral flow of thecoloring agent (as it moves into the carpet) increases with cell size.Too large a cross sectional dimension will result in a blurred pattern.If pattern blurring presents no problem the cells may be made largerthan /2".

The inertia of the screen 17 and the anvil 18 is such that when theimpact load is applied by the hammer 19 there is. very little downwardmovement of the screen 17 and the anvil 18. This insures that the carpetpile is disarranged to a minimum extent. However, there is some downwardmovement of the screen and both the screen and the pile 13 arecompressed to some extent by the impact force. The impact force may beapplied to either the back of the screen or the back of the carpet.

FIGURE 3 shows a complete screen 17. This particular screen will printthree colors on one pass through the impact zone. The screen is providedwith color areas 26, 27 and 28, each of these color areas being brokeninto three parts. Each part of each color area is made up as illustratedin FIGURE 2, all of the parts being held together by the backing layer17.

In using the screen shown in FIGURE 3, the cells in each color area arefilled with a liquid coloring agent. The screen is then placed face downon the carpet as illustrated in FIGURE 1. Impact forces are then appliedto the screen 17 to drive the coloring agents into the carpet.

This results in a clear distinct pattern of three colors. Of course, anynumber of colors may be used. All of the colors will be printed on onepass through the printing zone.

FIGURE 4 is a plan view showing one arrangement of the anvils 18 whichmay be utilized to impact the entire back surface of the screen 17. Itwill be noted that, as the screen 17 and the carpet 11 are advancedintermittently past the anvils 18, the entire area of the screen 17 willbe subjected, small portions at a time, to impact forces. The amountthat the screen and carpet are moved on each movement is less than thewidth (along the line of travel) of the anvil 18. The depth ofpenetration of the coloring agent and the distinctness of the printedpattern has been found to vary inversely with the cross sectional areaof the anvil l8 and directly with the intensity of the impact force.Thus, superior results are achieved by making the cross sectional areaof the anvil 18 fairly small and by utilizing a large impact force.

Inasmuch as lateral flow of the coloring agent from one cell 22 toanother is prevented by the partitions 23, it is not necessary to usegums or other thickeners in the color agent. However, gums, thickenersand other dyeing adjuncts may be used if desired.

The amount of wet pickup resulting when the present process is used isabout 40% by weight of the carpet. In conventional systems the wetpickup is about 200%. It can readily be seen that this will result inlower costs in the subsequent processing of the fabric.

From the above it can readily be seen that this invention provides aprocess for penetration printing of carpets and other thick substratesas well as fabrics in several layers. The printed pattern is clear anddistinct and extends from one side of the fabric clear through to theother side. By placing coloring agents of different colors in theditferent cells 22, a color design of several colors can be printedside-by-side on one pass through a single printing zone.

It is to be understood that this embodiment may be amended or alteredand that numerous other embodiments can be contemplated withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. The process of penetration printing a fabric, comprising positioninga plurality of supplies of a coloring agent of a predetermined color inclose proximity to each other to thereby form a color area, saidsupplies being isolated from each other, said supplies each having across-sectional area no greater than /2 square inch, positioning saidcolor area in contact with a fabric to be printed, and applying impactforces to the coloring agents to drive said coloring agents deep intothe fabric.

2. The method of penetration printing a fabric, comprising assembling aplurality of supplies of a coloring agent of a predetermined color inclose proximity to each other to form a color area, said supplies beingisolated from each other, said supplies each having a cross-sectionalarea no greater than /2 square inch, positioning the color area incontact with a fabric to be printed, advancing the fabric and the colorarea along a predetermined path, and applying impact forces to saidsupplies as said supplies pass a predetermined point on said path.

3. The process of penetration printing a fabric, comprising positioninga plurality of supplies of liquid coloring agents in close proximity toform a color area having a predetermined pattern, said supplies eachhaving a threedimensional configuration, said supplies each having across-sectional area no greater than /2 square inch, said supplies beinglaterally confined and isolated from each other, positioning the colorarea in contact with a fabric to be printed and applying impact forcesto said supplies to drive the coloring agent deep into the fabric.

4. The process of penetration printing thin fabrics, comprisingassembling a plurality of fabrics into contiguous layers, positioning aplurality of supplies of a coloring agent in close proximity to eachother to form a color area, said supplies being isolated from eachother, said supplies each having a cross-sectional area no greater than/2 square inch, positioning the color area in contact with the layers offabric, advancing the color area and the fabric layers along a path, andsequentially applying impact forces to the supplies of coloring agent ata predetermined point on said path to drive said agent through thelayers of fabric.

5. The process of penetration printing thin fabrics, comprisingassembling a plurality of fabrics into contiguous layers, positioning aplurality of supplies of a coloring agent in close proximity to eachother to form a color area, said supplies being isolated from eachother, said supplies each having a cross-sectional area no greater than/2 square inch, positioning the color area in contact with the layers offabric, advancing the color area and the fabric layers along a path, andsequently applying impact forces to the supplies of coloring agent at apredetermined point on said path to drive said agent through the layersof fabric.

6. The process of penetration printing a fabric, comprising positioninga plurality of supplies of coloring agent in close proximity to eachother to form a color area, said supplies having three-dimensionalconfigurations and being isolated from each other, said supplies eachhaving a cross-sectional area no greater than /2 square inch,positioning the color area in Contact with the fabric, advancing thecolor area along a path, and applying impact forces to said suppliesthroughout a zone extending laterally across said path, each of saidimpact forces being applied in a small area of said zone, said smallareas completely covering said zone.

7. The process of claim 6 wherein the color supplies are held mycapillary action in a porous sheet, the supplies being separated byimpervious portions extending through the porous sheet, said sheethaving an impervious backing layer.

8. The process of claim 7 wherein the impact forces are applied to thebacking layer of the sheet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 351,355 10/1886 Bigelow 101-327X659,535 10/1900 Lankford. 1,732,017 10/1929 Jenkins 101-327 X 2,339,1991/ 1944 Smith. 3,180,256 4/1965 Kramer et al 101327 X 3,199,448 8/1965Jaffa et al 101-423 3,280,740 10/1966 Balamuth et a1. 10l335 ROBERT E.PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

1. THE PROCESS OF PENETRATION PRINTING A FABRIC, COMPRISING POSITIONINGA PLURALITY OF SUPPLIES OF A COLORING AGENT OF A PREDETERMINED COLOR INCLOSE PROXIMITY TO EACH OTHER TO THEREBY FORM A COLOR AREA, SAIDSUPPLIES BEING ISOLATED FROM EACH OTHER, SAID SUPPLIES EACH HAVING ACROSS-SECTIONAL AREA NO GREATER THAN 1/2 SQUARE INCH, POSITIONING SAIDCOLOR AREA IN CONTACT WITH A FABRIC TO BE PRINTED, AND APPLYING IMPACTFORCES TO THE COLORING AGENTS TO DRIVE SAID COLORING AGENTS DEEP INTOTHE FABRIC.